Friday, September 25, 2009

When I was young, my mom did things differently from the other mothers. When the other kids were eating sugary cereals, I had to eat Uncle Sam. When the other kids were drinking milk shakes, I had to drink raspberry kefir. And when the other kids had smooth, flat store-bought cookies in their lunch boxes, I had chunky, lumpy homemade oatmeal cookies that looked like golf balls.

Appearances aside, I loved these oatmeal cookies as they were spiced with brown sugar and dotted with chocolate chips. But they looked strange, definitely not like the other kid’s cookies or something you’d find at a bakery. And when you’re in elementary school, appearances mean everything.

In the fifth grade, we had assigned seats at our lunchroom table. I was seated next to a boy named Vance. I knew him from our country club as we had taken tennis lessons together that past summer, but over the course of the school year we became better friends and he asked me to “go with him.” I thought he liked me because I was cute and lively (my nickname was Spaghetti Legs) but in time, I realized the truth.

Once I became Vance’s girlfriend, he told me that what was his was mine and vice versa. So I got to eat his Oreos and he got to eat my mom’s cookies. I thought that I was getting the better end of the deal and he was just being kind.
But one day I didn’t want to eat Oreos—I wanted my mom’s oatmeal cookies. Vance threw a fit. “You don’t want to trade? Your mom’s cookies are the best cookies I’ve ever had. I wish I had a mom who made cookies as good as these! And you don’t even appreciate them!” he said.

I was shocked at his outburst. Someone would choose lumpy, chunky cookies over perfect store-bought cookies? And that’s when I knew—my mom’s cookies were indeed superior.

I held my ground and told him I’d be happy to trade my peanut butter and banana sandwich on homemade bread for his baloney sandwich on Mrs. Baird’s, but it was no deal. He wanted those oatmeal cookies.

We broke up soon after—it was fifth grade after all—but remained good friends throughout our grade-school years. And sometimes, when I was feeling generous, I’d share with him my mom’s oatmeal cookies—no reciprocation necessary.

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream together the butter, sugar and egg. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Place 1 teaspoon-sized balls of dough on a greased or parchment-paper lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.
Makes four dozen.

Lisa, you crack me up! My daughters could tell similar stories about me--they regularly ate carob brownies spiked with bran and wheat germ! I didn't have access to kefir back then, but I sure knew how to make yogurt that made it into the shakes!

Dear Lord, we were raised by the same woman! I yearned and pined for Twinkies and Oreos, and got what my brother and I called "Oaten Lumps" and "Wheaten Lumps." Oddly enough, I grew up to love all things whole grain and unrefined. These cookies look like they will be in my son's lunch next week, and I'm on my way to vote for you. Thanks for a great story and a little nostalgia!

Our Mother's were cut from the same cloth. My mom made toll house cookies with half whole wheat flour, and I didn't even have any sugar until I was 3 years old. I used to envy my friends' store bought cookies, but now appreciate that my mom cared so much about my health! She also did oatmeal, always used real butter and brown sugar. But she was more into oatmeal raisin ;-)

I always think of you when I make refritos. I had them with eggs, onions, and peppers this morning. Being a transplant from Texas people rarely understand my breakfast choices :-)

Oh girl you've done it again. I could have written that first paragraph above my grandma's cookies. And as for the recipe except that we had raisins instead of chips it's got to be the same recipe! Did we grow up together??? LOL

Yum! I am an oatmeal raisin fanatic - so can I sub raisins for the choc chips and throw in some pecans??

I grew up with snickerdoodles, Toll House choc chip cookies with pecans, thumbprint cookies rolled in pecans and filled with buttercream icing, pumpkin donuts, pecan pie and apple pie. I had a love/carb filled youth (and I have the hips to prove it...).Love your blog.

Just back from voting for you @ Quaker. Good luck! As for the cookies, second batch are in the oven right now. Just had one while it was still warm....delicious!!! Thanks for the story and recipe. My tendency would be to add some pecans. I tend to add pecans to EVERYTHING.

Sounds like we had a similar upbringing. I had to beg to get 'sugar' cereal like Fruit Loops and was successful about once a year. I now thank my mother that I understand what really good food is and am able to raise my two boys in the same way. These cookies look amazing! I was looking for something to bake with my 6 year old son on this rainy Saturday and we've found just the thing.

Oooo, you make me DROOL and MISS TEXAS EVEN MORE! :) Even the comments - thank goodness I can smell the Mrs. Baird's Bread vicariously through your fans. Mmm. Keep up the great blogging!:) Cyndi(@webvixn on Twitter)

Reading your story I had a flashback to elementary school and my family's adventures kicking wheat and peanuts because my sister was found to be allergic...in 1983...when we ate PB&J's for lunch, every day. I then started taking some kind of hippy nut spread on rice cakes and was teased incessantly by the other kids about eating cardboard etc. After many tears and begging my mother who reminded me that we had to stick together as a family and share the pain, she agreed that for lunch I could start taking...yogurt.The cookies look great, I can't wait to try them!

I made these this weekend and made plenty of Dallasites happy--neighbors, friends and babies...I didn't have 2 cups of chocolate chips on hand (b/c secretly I reach into the fridge and eat a few every so often..) so I used 1 cup chips and 1 cup raisins. They were amazing! Thank you so much.

One of the many reasons I feel sorry for my husband about his childhood is that he only got store-bought cookies. My mom made cookies from scratch and I would help. His mom is not much of a baker, bless her heart.

This is a great story, and indisputable proof that food really is the way into a man's heart. That being said, Vance, buddy, if you had only held it together, you might still be eating those cookies today. Great recipe! Putting it on my list.

We decided to try these last night! They're really tasty, although it seems like there might not be enough liquid in the recipe. The humidity was relatively low here (Kansas City) yesterday and that might have had something to do with it, but we had to add around 1/2 cup of milk to make the cookie batter come together. It was still a little too crumbly for drop cookies, so we made bar cookies instead. I'll also add some more salt next time I make these.

Oatmeal cookies are one of those "quest" foods for me. I'm constantly looking for the BEST recipe. I've got to try these of course!

Just the other day I was making your oatmeal bread and thinking about how so many of your recipes (biscuits and flour tortillas come to mind) have become part of my repertoire.

Funnily enough, I have similar memories from the grade school years. I also had a health nut mom. I always wanted to trade for those silver wrapped ding dongs. (I don't remember any takers. I think that my mom sent fruit instead of cookies.)

Harmony--Yes, that's the correct recipe. The dough can look a little dry, but what I'll recommend is that people add between 2 1/2-3 cups of oatmeal instead of the full-on three. I reckon variables such as humidity, size of eggs, etc. can affect the ratio of fat to grains.

I made the cookies and they were DELICIOUS!!! My dough was pretty crumbly too but since a use a small spring scoop to dish out the dough, I just crammed the dough in and they were fine (but the shape didn't chanege much in the baking)! I added pecans and some cinnamon to mine, so good! They were the perfect dessert to my baked salmon and hatch potato casserole. Thanks, Lisa!

I just made these, and they were perfect for when I'm craving a hearty, healthy(er!) cookie. I used rolled (old-fashioned) oats and cut the chocolate chips to 1 cup, as my dough seemed to be bursting with chips even with that amount. No problems here with the texture of the dough -- it held together nicely. I did make sure the butter was soft, and I mixed in the flour a bit before adding the oats.

Great story! I didn't get to have any of the junky stuff my friends ate either--no Cocoa Puffs in our house! (My mom didn't go as far as Kefir, though...) And my mom's homemade chocolate-chip cookies looked just like these: little domed lumps. (There was always someone willing to trade lunches with me...)

I've been doing so much research lately on the connection between memory and taste for the new book--and these cookies, plus your thoughts about them, are right on the money. It's hard to explain that connection between the past and our sense of taste--but I don't think you need to, given how lovingly these were prepared and presented. Just gorgeous.

my mother's motto rings in my head to this day..."if you can buy it at the store, you can make it at home." i used to think that just meant we were poor. this has become a my motto now and i love reading about other mom's like mine.

i made the cookies for my kiddos lunches and they were great! i also made your jalapeno cheddar bread for our barley soup last night, only i left out the jalapenos this time. still very delish:)

I'm with the rest -- truly awesome story. These cookies are chock-full of good memories, and they look great to boot.

You're among friends when it comes to a childhood filled with "different" foods. My mom made the bread we took to school for sandwiches... and I often traded MY homemade cookies for Fritos :O (I know better now, of course!)

My mother used to make homemade popcorn, in a Revereware pot, top it with a little butter and salt and hand it our it in those fold over sandwich bags for halloween. Kids in our neighborhood would crawl out of the woodwork for that popcorn. I was so proud. Maybe I'll make some popcorn tonight. Thanks for the sweet story!

Sounds just like my mom. There were no sugary perfectly formed cookies in my childhood (which at the time I cursed) just lumpy oatmeal-chocolate chip ones. Happily, I've adopted them as my own & love them dearly. They'll still never be quite like my mom's though.

It appears to my great delight, that your mom's oatmeal cookies are very similar to my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies that was one of the first things I learned how to make with my mother growing up. A lot of people choose to make these by following a classic oatmeal cookie base and then adding chocolate chips. While we both seem to be of the school of regular chocolate chip cookies, but with the addition of oatmeal. I can almost taste them now.

These were yummy! I added some flaked coconut for more chewiness and also used half chocolate chips and half peanut butter chips. I made them with my 19 mo. old and he loved pouring in all the different ingredients.

I stumbled upon your blog and this recipe... both gorgeous! I had to make these cookies right away! I love the crispy outside and the soft center and was pleased with the way they keep their plump shape. I decided to add some cinnamon... thought it was a nice compliment to the chocolate. I think I ate five of them last night! I am 38 weeks pregnant though (baby must have liked them too). :) Thanks for sharing!

Kudos to your mother for knowing best about lunchbox cookies. I make "wierd" cookies for my children's lunchboxes too. I take a basic recipe and add all sorts of wonderful things like flax seeds, nuts, and dried fruit. Sometimes I even use whole wheat pastry flour. PS. We love kefir.

I made these a couple of days ago and had a bit of a drama. Probably used too many oats and with the first batch I put in I put the broiler on instead of the oven! The second batch was a bit dry and with the third I added some milk. They were still delicious.

My mom is from New Mexico, raised in Texas, and then moved out to California. I can't ever remember her baking. But that's o.k. I have other fond memories of her. I on the hand love baking. I tried your recipe, and they were great!

Aw, these are perfect mom cookies, not what you would want from a bakery, but exactly what you want with a cup of tea when your house is cold and you´re a bit homesick. I think it´s unlikely that this batch is going to make it 24 hours. Thanks for this.

I made these this past weekend for a party, everybody loved them. We did notice that they seemed a little salty. It didn't detract from the awesomeness of the cookie but it was definitely there. I didn't check the butter I used, it may have been salted, but I do know that I only used a teaspoon of salt.

I made a variety of flavors with this recipe. I made them with dark chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, cappuccino chips and cappuccino chips with semi-sweet chips. All turned out great, sadly the cappuccino chips weren't full of cappuccino flavor. They were more of a toned down white chocolate.

I just recently came across your site. I was looking down your list of recipes and the first one I had to check out was your oatmeal cookie.

Your cookie story made me laugh. I'm also from the Houston area and for as long as I can remember my lunch contained homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. My mom would make dozens of them and freeze them three to a bag. Every lunch got a bag of cookies (and I usually had another bag when I got home).

I didn't get my first boyfriend until much, much later than 5th grade. But on the bright side, I never had to share my cookies with anyone.

I'll have to give your cookies a test drive and see how they stack up to mom's.

What a great story! Just made these cookies and they were fantastic! Thanks so much for this recipe. I poured a little bit of milk in to make it a bit runnier as I think the portion sizes are a bit different here in the UK. I received many compliments on these cookies.

And now I get to do all that to, er, that is, FOR my grandchildren ! Hee, hee! I think I'll make some of these first thing in the morning, and I have real cream-top, non-homogenized, incredible-tasting real country dairy milk to drink with them! Sigh.